Monday, November 12, 2007

I watched bits and pieces of a few matches this weekend, but for the most part they were boring scoreless draws or total blowouts. At least Aston Villa beating Birmingham was reasonably interesting. And Chelsea drew, ha. (Thank you, Tim Cahill.) But really there were only two games that I cared about:

Liverpool 2-0 FulhamRafa Benitez, amazingly enough, named an unchanged team from Liverpool's mauling of Besiktas last week, but although they dominated once again in terms of possession and chances on goal, it looked as if this game was going to have a very different result, as they were unable to find that final pass that would allow them to put the ball in the net. That all changed when Fernando Torres came on as a substitute, trapped a long punt from Pepe Reina perfectly on his chest and slipped past his marker to send the goalkeeper the wrong way. Steven Gerrard added a second goal shortly thereafter, from a penalty dubiously awarded for a foul on Peter Crouch that was just barely outside the box, but it would be hard to argue that it really affected the game, because the result was virtually guaranteed after Torres's classy strike.

Manchester United 2-0 BlackburnWith Wayne Rooney out injured, Cristiano Ronaldo stepped up to score both goals for United and give them the victory over Blackburn. Rovers started the game strongly and it took United over half an hour to break through, before Ronaldo scored twice in as many minutes to put them in control. David Dunn was sent off for a second yellow card early in the second half, which effectively ended Blackburn's chances of getting back in the game, but still they did well to prevent United from running up the score the way they have in recent games. As for Rooney, for someone who looks so sturdy, he certainly does break easily, doesn't he? At least Louis Saha is (temporarily) fit.